Thursday, April 12, 2007

Thank You Sous!

This week was an uninspired food week. I didn't have the energy to get too creative. I also wanted to thin out the pantry and freezer, eating from what we have in the house. I had ideas on what to cook, but no energy to cook them.Bruce really stepped up. He's been training as my sous chef for about 6 months now. He'll chop, dice, grate and saute anything I ask. I love it. He is learning and I'm getting a break. I get to conceptualize and he performs. Sometimes mistakes are made. There was the overly hot pan for the Chicken Picatta - burned the butter. Luckily it was the first step and he even had the idea himself that he should start over. The Picatta turned out wonderful by the way, moist and flavorful, lots of capers and little tiny bits of lemon supremes (Bruce's favorite thing to prep). He really outdid himself last night with the lamb loin chops. We were going to do them on the grill, but ran out of fuel. We quickly heated up the broiler and our biggest heaviest copper pot. He quickly browned the racks in the pan in a bit of olive oil. Then we put the whole thing in the oven for another 8 minutes. Perfection. He used his tools and checked the internal temp with a thermometer and pulled them out at jsut the right time, they were fabulous - light pink and juicy throughout with a flavorful outer coating of mustard and pepper. Wow!The night wasn't without incident however. I found the large copper pot somewhat washed and abandoned in the dish drainer this morning. There was a splash of broiled on oil on the inside of the pan and the beautiful outer copper coating was pale and splotchy from all the heat. He gave me these lovely heavy monster copper pots for Xmas this past year and I absolutely love them. Nothing that I have ever used comes close to the performance these pans give. I picked up that pan and scoured it with my Bartenders Best Friend until it gleamed. It was dried and hanging before I had my first cup of coffee this morning. I kid you not.I told him how to polish it for next time, but was happy to do it myself. I don't want to upset the kitchen staff, what would I do without him?Thank you helpers everywhere, your hard work is appreciated!